[Lithuania x Reader] The Silent Princess

The smell of dust and paper hung heavily in the air. You smiled to yourself as you gave a small wave to the woman behind the desk and wandered deeper into the depths of the library. It had become something of a routine for you in the past few months. During lunch each and every school day, you would come to the library and read, away from the chatter and rumors and stares of the other students.

You frowned to yourself softly as you wandered down the section of book for fantasy and science fiction. You supposed a transfer student half-way through the year was odd enough, especially in your senior year of high school, but...honestly, you would think no one had ever seen a transfer student before with the way they were all acting! It had been nothing but stares and whispers and, to be quite frank, a huge headache.

That's what you get for moving to a small town where everyone knew each other from birth. Mom was insistent though, since Dad's health wasn't going to get any better in the big city. Stupid pollution making his breathing problems worse...

The largest issue you had with the move was that you never had been the most social person in the world. Even at your old school, you preferred the company of a good book than the company of another person. On top of that, you were so shy that you got nerves just thinking of another person approaching you! It had been a huge challenge to make friends over the years in your last town, you were finding it impossible now.

You decided on an old, frayed copy of a book about dragons as your reading material today during your hour break for lunch and went to sit at one of the abandoned long tables, already itching to crack open the old, slightly yellowed pages and be drawn into a world far away from here.

As you sat down at your normal table, you couldn't help but think about the situation. Your shyness spurred an interesting rumor around school. One that you were mute. Or you just never talked to anyone, no matter what the circumstance was or who it was to. You didn't exactly disprove it when someone came up to talk and you would just glance down at the ground awkwardly or pretend the other person wasn't there. Some people gave up relatively quickly. There were a couple though that were persistent on coaxing a word from you, like the blond from football team or the really loud kid that was always saying how awesome he was. You supposed that there was a prize or something for the person who managed to get a peep out of you. You almost growled. They could all keep dreaming because you were never, ever going to talk to any of them if you would be treated like a means to receive a reward!

Pushing the thought aside, you set your phone to ring when it was time to go back to class and settled into your chair, reading the first line on the page. Time seemed to fly by as you became engrossed in your book. You, however, weren't so far gone that you didn't hear the scraping of chairs close to your own. Honestly, didn't they realize that there were other places for people to sit than the table you were at? You growled mentally and buried your face deeper into your book.

"Hey Liet, I have, like, the most juicy gossip straight from the rumor mill."

You raised an eyebrow but didn't look up. You recognized the voice as the blond boy from your History class. He was a strange one, you recalled. He liked to wear skirts and show off his amazing legs that no man should ever have. Feliks? Was that his name...?

You heard a sigh and another voice answered him. "Well...go on, Feliks." He sounded a bit tired like he was so used to this. Despite that, you thought the voice belonged to Toris, who was in your Literature class. It would make sense, Toris was supposedly Feliks' best friend, or something like that.

"So, like you know those Nordic boys, right? I never knew how scary their parents were about forcing them into high paying positions after they graduate. That Emil kid is going to be going to med school, while Lukas, that really quiet one, is supposed to be like a civil engineer or something. That loud-mouth idiot, Mathias, apparently is going to be a businessman. That jerk, still can't believe he stood up Edward..."

"You're getting off topic," Toris reminded him gently.

"Right, so anyway. I heard that on the way home the other day, Lukas and Mathias found like this puffin that was all banged up and such."

"How did a puffin get here...?" Toris wondered out loud. "They're not exactly native."

"Liet~! I'm talking!" Feliks whined. Toris fell silent and Feliks continued. "Like I was saying, so they found this really beat up puffin and decided they were going to save it. Apparently they decided to take it to Emil since they don't have like any cash. They take it home and Emil tells them that he can't like fix the stupid bird without some supplies and junk. And he makes it worse by being like it's going to die unless you get me these things fast. So, Lukas uses his like brain knowledge of the city to find the quickest route to a convenience store and Mathias manages to haggle the price of the bandages and junk down so they can get it to Emil. Emil manages to save the puffin and I heard it won't leave him alone now. Though if I was that puffin, I would be like 'Oh thank you for saving me, Mathias! Without your haggling skills, I would have died!'."

You felt yourself frowning at the praise that Feliks was giving Mathias. "Feliks, I don't think Mathias deserves all the credit for saving the puffin." Toris said gently. You felt yourself smile. Finally, someone who could see the whole picture.

"If anything, the puffin should have stayed with Emil since he did save it's life."

"No way! Emil did what every other doctor or vet or whatever could do! Mathias was smart and got what the puffin needed!"

"But without Emil, it would have died since there wasn't anyone else around to save it."

"Nuh uh! If it wasn't for Mathias..."

You found yourself clenching the book. What about Lukas? If it wasn't for him, Mathias couldn't have gotten to the store fast enough and back with the supplies to save that puffin. How could they forget that?!

"It's totally all due to Mathias!"

"You're mistaken, Emil deserves the credit."

"Mathias does!"

"I think you're both wrong! If it wasn't for Lukas, they would have never gotten the puffin to Emil first or to the store to get to the supplies to help it fast enough since he had the knowledge of the quickest ways to get to both places!"

You slammed your book shut and glared at the two of them. Toris was staring back at you with wide eyes, while Feliks was slowly starting to grin.

You blinked.

Ah hell, you just spoke to them, didn't you?!

You quickly packed all your things in your bag and rushed out of the library, swearing up and down you'd never say anything to anyone again.

~*~

It was nearly a week later when the second event happened. You decided to take your lunch in the library while you were working on some of the homework you conveniently forgot until now. You groaned. (Least Favorite Subject). The two of you were mortal enemies.

You were nose deep in your textbook and had no intention on stopping your work when you heard two people sit down at the table next to you. You began to plead mentally, Don't let it be Feliks and Toris again...

"So, Liet, I have this like totally juicy gossip to share with you."

Oh for the love of God, it is them again! You rolled your eyes and went back to your work as Feliks began fanning his rumor mill again.

"You know that really quiet kid? I think his name is Matthew or something, I can't ever remember...anyway, I never would have liked guessed that Alfred is his brother or some junk like that. Or that both Arthur from Literature class and Francis from Art are both his cousins!"

"I think that everyone but you knew that, Feliks..." You couldn't help but smile a little at the tone in Toris' voice.

"Whatever!" Feliks gave a snort before he continued. "Like, so here's the story. One of them decided to have like this totally bitchin' party while Alfred and Matthew's parents were out of town. It was like a total disaster zone and that Matthew kid was like freaking out about his parents losing it on him. Then, like the other three decided to totally take pity on him and help clean up the whole thing. So since like Alfred knows like everyone, he called up everyone he knows to have them come and help clean. Arthur is like the only one who has his own car and stuff so he totally went to pick every single one of them up while to make the deal totally sweet, Francis made like a bunch of food to feed everyone who came to help. So the whole thing got cleaned up super fast and, like, Matthew's parents were so thrilled that the house was not like a huge Chernobyl mess that they even gave him like extra money on his allowance!"

"Why is this a rumor?" Toris asked. You glanced at him to see him tilting his head to the side slightly in a strangely innocent, adorable way.

"'Cuz like Matthew is a totally sweetheart, he gave those three most of the cash. I heard that he split a hundred dollars by giving Arthur like twenty five of it and Alfred and Francis totally got thirty five. I think he kept five dollars or something. I think it was sweet way to split it."

"Hmm..." Toris began. "I don't think so. I think that Francis did the most work. It takes a lot to make that much food, even if it's something simple. He deserved a bigger share."

You almost felt your jaw hit the table. Seriously? Francis deserved a bigger share because he cooked?!

"No way!" Feliks interjected. "If anyone deserved a bigger share, it's totally Alfred! He knows everyone!"

What about Arthur? You wondered, fingers tightening on your pencil. If it wasn't for him, no one would have been able to arrive at the house to help clean!

The argument began again. "I think you're wrong. Francis deserved more."

"That's totally bogus and you know it, Liet! Alfred should have gotten more!"

You bit your lip to keep yourself from interjecting your opinion into the conversation like last time. But...it was so damn hard when they were purposefully keeping Arthur out of their argument about this!

Your pencil finally snapped and you sighed loudly. "You're both wrong! Arthur deserved more because he went and got everyone! That is so much in gas money if anything!"

Again, Toris was staring at you with wide eyes and Feliks had a cat like grin spreading onto his face. You grimaced mentally and started smacking yourself upside the head. You didn't want to talk to them, remember?!

You packed your things back into your bag and fled the library once more.

~*~

No no no no no no no! They were not coming in here again! Only three days later, during the lunch hour and while you were rushing through the take home test for the next class, Feliks sauntered into the library, Toris following behind him. They were not going to just sit by you again and gossip, were they?!

Feliks flopped gracefully into the chair at the same table as you, Toris taking the other across from him. "So, Liet, I heard something totally rad today!"

Oh for the love of all that is good and holy!

You buried yourself deeper over your test, doing your best to ignore the two. They were not going to get you involved this time. Nuh uh. No way.

"What is it?"

"So you know that girl, Lili? Really quiet, cut her hair short recently?"

"Yeah, she's in my Art class. What about her?"

"Did you hear she was like being bullied?"

That caught your attention. Lili was a sweet girl and always took the time to say hello to you, even if you never said it back. You lifted your head a little, glancing over at the two.

"By who?" Toris looked just like you felt right now.

Feliks looked around the room, as if the accused would appear from behind a book case just by saying his name. "None other than Ivan." He whispered. "Can you, like, believe that?"

Toris had gone pale. "I-I can see that."

You pondered his reaction for a long moment before it hit you. Toris had been pushed around by Ivan a lot, hadn't he?

"Like anyway, Ivan decided that it would be a totally rad idea to pick on Lili. When she went home crying one day, Vash went like soooooo ballistic. He totally wanted to confront Ivan and totally shove a gun up his ass! I would have like bought choice seats for that or something!"

"Didn't you used to have a crush on Ivan?"

"Ugh! Gag me with a spoon! No! God that's groady! And stop interrupting me!"

You had to smile a little even though the topic was still disturbing. "Anyway," Feliks continued. "It was Roderich that like totally stopped him, being like his bro and all and totally doesn't want to see him in jail. And Elizaveta, being his like his true love and some junk decided to jump into the problem too. So, like from what I got from this, Vash cornered Ivan outside of school and threatened him to like never lay another finger on Lili. Roderich, like the nark he is, totally just told the principle and Ivan was like suspended for a few days. Elizaveta decided to like teach him a real lesson and totally like beat the sunshine out of him. Ivan was so banged up from like the whole thing that he got back to school and he totally begged Lili's forgiveness!" Feliks leaned back. "Roderich totally did like the best here by getting Ivan kicked out of school."

"Hmmm..."

Oh no, they were not doing this. Not when it came to Lili.

"I think that Vash deserves more credit than Roderich. After all, he's a perfect older brother for her."

"Yeah but like, it's required since he is an older brother! Roderich didn't have to!"

"True but not all brothers do that. Vash certainly deserves more credit."

"Nuh uh!"

You slammed your hands into the table. "Elizaveta probably had more to do with Ivan's apology than either of them since she actually showed him consequence to his actions!" Two pairs of green eyes turned to you again, Feliks' grin already beginning to form on his face.

You could feel tears coming to your eyes. "You know what? I don't care anymore! You two finally win! I don't care about keeping quiet when you're going to talk about something horrible like that just to get me to say something!" You packed your things away and left the library as fast as you could, ignoring the librarian's scowl for you talking so loudly.

You weren't sure where you were heading. Hell, you were amazed that you didn't run into someone with the speed you were walking and with your head down. You only stopped when you felt the shade on your back and looked up, finding the large tree in the center of the courtyard.

A hand grabbed your arm. "Wait, (name), please stop for a moment."

You spun around, tears threatening to fall down your face. You jerked your arm away from Toris. "Why?! What do you want?! You already won! Go ahead and brag to your friends about getting me to talk! I don't care anymore!"

Toris had a small frown on his face, his brows drawn together slightly, a faint hint of hurt in his eyes. "That wasn't my intention at all." He said softly.

You frowned. "What then? If not to win that stupid contest, why would you bother with those stories and rumors?!"

Toris looked down and off to the side just a little. "I...I really wanted to talk to you." He muttered quietly.

You blinked, a chunk of your anger disappearing. "You wanted to talk to me?" You repeated.

Amazingly, the faintest hint of blush crossed his face. He nodded. "I always wanted to hear you talk. We're in the same Literature class, remember? When we have to write poems and short stories, yours always draw me in. I wanted to get to know you...I just...I didn't know how." He sighed. "Feliks had the brilliant idea of baiting you into chatting with me. I guess it worked but not the way I wanted."

You pressed your lips together, the last of the anger disappearing. You almost felt an amused bubble crawl up your throat. "You know...you could have just said that instead of do this."

Toris looked back to you, a faint smile curling the corners of his lips. "Maybe you're right."